How to Refinish Old Cabinet Hardware

By Mer, on October 5th, 2012

When it comes time to improve your kitchen, you may be considering either a complete overhaul or brand new appliances. In order to make your kitchen look better, you could simply redo your old cabinetry instead. It would enhance the overall look of the room and wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg. Refinishing your old kitchen cabinets needn’t be a difficult job. All you really need to do is make the hardware look like new. Following are a few tips on how to refinish old cabinet hardware.

Determine What You’re Going to Do

Before beginning your restoration project, you need to determine exactly what you’re going to do. Are you going to refinish by repainting or are you going to redo the surface to make them look like antiques? Are you going to buy new screws or refurbish the ones that are already holding the cabinets up and used to hold the doors on? Take a close look at the old hardware, and then decide whether or not it’s worth saving. If it is, then you’ll need to decide how to proceed with the refinishing.

Gather Your Material

Once you decide how you’re going to go about refinishing the hardware, you’ll have to gather the material you’ll need for the project. Instead of having to stop the project in the middle and run out for paint or a paintbrush, the process will go smoother if you already have the material on hand. You should also have a couple of pans filled with warm water, soap, and a scrub brush. Instead of using a paintbrush, you could use spray-on paint. It’ll more than likely be neater than using a brush. You may also need some heavy-grit sandpaper to remove rust or built up dirt, if necessary.

Remove the Hardware from the Cabinet

The first step in the process is to remove the hardware from the cabinet. It’ll be much easier to refinish if it’s not attached--in fact, it may be impossible to do properly if you leave it on the doors or attached to the cabinet. Use a screwdriver to remove the screws that are holding the handles on the cabinet. You should also unscrew the hinges from the cabinet walls, if you intend to refinish them, as well.

Clean the Hardware

Fill the pan with a solution of soap and warm water. Use the scrub brush to clean any grit and dirt from the hardware. If there’s any rust buildup, use the heavy-grit sandpaper to remove it. Don’t scrape too much of the metal off. Instead, you should sand only as much as needed to get the rust off. After the metal is clean and rust free, you should dip the hardware in a pan of warm, clear water until all the soap and grit is removed. Then let the hardware dry thoroughly.

It’s Time for Primer

After the hardware is prepared by cleaning, sanding, and drying, it’s time to repaint. But first, you need to prime the surface of the hardware. Using rust-resistant, oil-based primer, completely cover the hardware with a light coat. Make sure you don’t get too much primer in the nooks and crannies, but ensure they’re covered. Allow the primer to dry before proceeding to the next step.

Paint the Hardware

Although you could use a paintbrush to apply paint to the hardware, it would be much quicker and easier to use spray paint. You can either paint on a flat surface, or hang the hardware from a line while you paint. Hanging will probably be easier and will allow you to get to all the surfaces that need to be painted. After you allow the pieces to dry, you should repeat the process until each one has at least three coats of paint.

Reattach the Hardware

After you’ve got the hardware looking like new, and made sure it’s completely dry, it’s time to reattach the pieces. Without scratching the hardware, use a screwdriver to put the handles back on the cabinets. Once that’s done, you can put the hinges on the doors, and then reattach them to the cabinets. Make sure you don’t put any scratches in your refinished hardware during the reattachment process.